Businesses must comply with data privacy regulations to keep their customers and stay competitive in today’s world. However, ensuring data privacy is not easy. You may have to deal with multiple challenges. But why is data privacy important?
Well, did you know that somewhere across the world, a hacker attack occurs once every 39 seconds? Why are people after data? You must have heard the expression that ‘data is the new oil.’ That answers the ‘why.’ Data has become priceless for businesses and is the core growth-fueling factor.
Why Is Data Privacy Important for a Business?
Businesses depend on data to deliver personalized customer experiences and automated marketing messages. A business’s analytical insights extract from high-quality information that streams from various sources. It is easy to understand why companies are so keen to gather data. At the same time, it is crucial that you protect your customers’ information. A data breach can lead to severe issues for consumers and businesses alike.
Data Privacy Explained
Data privacy refers to the handling of critical personal information. They can be personally identifiable information (PII) and personal health information (PHI). Such information includes highly confidential data such as health details and records, social security numbers, financial data, and other types of personal information.
In the context of a business, data privacy goes beyond the personal details of employees and customers. Likewise, data privacy for businesses concerns protecting information that helps the company operate in an advantageous situation. So, a company is more concerned about protecting data related to proprietary research, development, or its financial transactions.
Why Are Businesses So Concerned About Data Privacy?
There are many reasons data privacy is a matter of immense concern for many businesses. If you don’t have solid data privacy measures, your business is unlikely to remain competitive. Data privacy is essential for the following reasons.
Preventing Data Breaches
The incidents of data breaches are rising every day. That’s why organizations must have impregnable security measures in place. The goal must be to keep customer data behind highly secure systems. When you put all your critical data behind advanced systems, the chances of data breaches are mitigated significantly.
Implementing Regulatory Compliances
If your organization doesn’t have a solution for ensuring privacy protection, you might find yourself on the wrong side of the law. Organizations must comply with state and federal data privacy laws or face stiff penalties.
Following the Established Code of Ethics
Most organizations have their in-house established code of ethics. If you don’t have any, you still must have the generally established, commonly followed ethical business practices. A vital component of these ethical policies states that all confidential information obtained from customers must be handled responsibly. You explicitly agree that such information can only be used for business purposes. The data must not be used in a manner that can harm or hurt customer interest.
Ensuring the Loyalty of Customers
Customers must be sure that their personal information is safe. They must also be reasonably assured that companies have systems to keep data private. If they are not sure about their data security, they are unlikely to do business with such a company. They may likely move away to a competitor.
Implementing Data Privacy
Data privacy affects every aspect of a business. Unfortunately, most business owners connect data privacy to their IT area of operations and have plans only to secure those areas. They think that’s enough, but that’s a fallacy.
It must be the core of your data strategy. All your staff members need made aware of it. Require appropriate training also in data privacy measures.
Managing Access Control
Most breaches have access control as the culprit. It must be borne in mind that technology is not the only thing to worry about in data privacy management. People and processes can also play a crucial role – a fact that most companies overlook.
A large organization with many employees will find it harder to manage user control effectively. Businesses need robust data governance processes and impeccable data architecture to achieve their goals.
Differentiating Between Data Types
Not all data is created equal. Some types of data demand a higher level of security than others. So, your team needs to know how to differentiate and classify various kinds of data. This way the data keeps secure according to sensitivity levels.
Managing Data Security On Different Devices
Data privacy can be harder to manage for companies where employees and professionals use multiple types of devices. Some organizations allow employees to bring their own devices. If you follow the same policy, give it a rethink. The other solution is ensuring that all the devices used by employees comply fully with regulations.
Conclusion
Data privacy is a problem that companies continue to grapple with despite the advancement in technology in this field. With companies handling more data now than ever before, data privacy will be an issue that will continue to cause problems for organizations. Make sure you follow the suggestions offered and strictly follow the mandatory regulations applicable to your business, industry, and state.
